The May 2018 print-magazine cover riffs on the magic of internet searches and automobiles, and although it’s a bit cheeky, it hints at how a significant portion of Motor Trend content is delivered and consumed every day.

Readers like you help drive our monthly magazine circulation to an average of 1 million copies (thank you), but in a good month, nearly twice as many readers find our news, reviews, and buyer’s guide insights on MotorTrend.com via search engines like Google.

And that’s just if you want our content in English; we license print versions of Motor Trend in Chinese and Korean, and produce a Spanish-language version of our website.

Motor Trend en Español began in the early 2000s and served our Spanish-speaking audience with both a magazine and a website, MotorTrendenEspanol.com. Our colleague Sidney Hidalgo’s careful stewardship has kept MTEE and our other international offerings alive all of these years—but the growth of our Spanish-language version really took off when Miguel Cortina joined our team in January 2015.

If that name sounds familiar, it is because Miguel is an active contributor to both the English and Spanish versions of Motor Trend. His byline and insights have appeared several times online, and he’s been a juror on both our SUV of the Year and Truck of the Year programs.

Prior to Miguel’s arrival, our Spanish-language offerings consisted almost entirely of third-party translations of Motor Trend content. He now manages that process, but he also publishes original drive reviews and news on MotorTrendenEspanol.com that target the growing Latino audience in America and abroad. If that’s not enough, Miguel is Motor Trend’s one-man wrecking crew when it comes to Spanish-language social media. You can find it on the Motor Trend en EspañolFacebook and Instagram accounts and on Twitter.

We’ve tested nearly half a dozen first-gen EcoBoost Mustangs around here, so we’re pretty familiar with how the car drives and performs. The 2018 model, a midlife refresh, has picked up a 10-speed automatic, an extra 30 lb-ft of torque, and a whole lot more attitude.

To date, the EcoBoost-equipped Mustang has been a confident performer, especially equipped with the optional Performance package. In a comparison test against the turbo four-cylinder Camaro, I wrote it “can be driven as fast as its motor will carry it down a winding road with complete confidence.” Apparently, that’s too tame for the Mustang engineering team. This new car drives like it has something to prove.

It’s obvious the moment you start driving the car hard. The optional limited-slip differential locks up aggressively, and the optional summer tires don’t always have the grip to handle it. You must be careful with the throttle in tight corners; it will try to put all 350 lb-ft down at once and pop you sideways. Leave the stability control on until you’re familiar with the car because it’ll let you rotate more than you expect before it steps in. This car now requires a delicate touch. Manhandling it turns a race horse into a bucking bronco.

You can make life easier on yourself by staying away from the Sport+ and Race driving modes. Both make the throttle hyperaggressive and the steering too heavy, making it needlessly difficult to drive the car smoothly. Those modes also lock out the selectable steering settings, so you can’t customize the car to your taste. Sport or Custom modes are best but don’t let you change the firmness of the optional magnetorheological dampers, which work best in Sport+ and Race. In Sport and Custom, they leave the car underdamped and a little too bouncy for serious driving.

The new 10-speed auto is one thing that doesn’t need fixing on the street. On our favorite roads, it was perfect. Even with its software update, the EcoBoost still runs out of breath at high rpm, but you wouldn’t know it because this transmission knows exactly how to use all its gears to keep the engine in the meat of its power. That include both shifting at the horsepower peak and downshifting under braking so you’re right at the torque peak when you’re ready to accelerate out of the corner.

Regardless of which mode you prefer or how you dial in the settings, there’s no denying the EcoBoost Mustang is damn quick on a back road once you figure out how to drive it right. It’s a sweaty-palms experience, but it’ll surprise a lot of fast cars.

This was born out at the test track, as well. At 5.3 seconds to 60 mph and 13.9 seconds in the quarter at 97.2 mph, this is the quickest EcoBoost Mustang we’ve ever tested and nicely reverses a trend we discovered and reported of EcoBoost Mustangs getting slower. Our test team found Drag Strip mode, unsurprisingly, returned the best results, though it surprisingly doesn’t have launch control. A little brake torque up to 1,500 rpm netted the best launch. If you’re curious, the last V-8 Mustang we tested hit 60 mph in 4.4 seconds and ran a 12.6-second quarter mile at 115.1 mph.

We’ve long praised the EcoBoost Mustang’s braking for being stronger and more precise than you’d expect in what is now the base model, and this one is no exception. Its stop from 60 mph in 106 feet is right on par with its predecessors.

Things didn’t go so well in our handling tests, though. Pulling 0.96 g on the skidpad and lapping the figure eight in 25.1 seconds at 0.75 g average, it did about as well as the last EcoBoost with an automatic transmission we tested. Thing is, it’s significantly slower and pulling a lot less g than the best EcoBoost Mustang we’ve tested, and it’s not just the numbers. The test team reports things started out all right, with great braking, good road holding, and strong traction coming off the corners, but the laps were still nearly a second off the pace. Going for another try, everything “went pear-shaped,” as the notes have it. “Times did not improve, and the transmission started really hiccupping,” our test team wrote. “A couple of times, after pulling the paddle for a downshift, it literally freewheeled, no throttle response, as if it was in neutral. Then it popped into second and the revs jumped (no matched revving), and it totally upset the car. Also, I don’t think the LSD was working properly because going to throttle at the same rate in the same place spun the car once—a really slow-mo spin, but still it was a surprise.” No doubt, our Figure Eight test is very hard on cars, but these sorts of things don’t usually happen.

The test team’s notes end with, “Feels like a good eight-tenths car, but ask ten-tenths and it won’t like it.” Which, really, kind of jibes with our road impressions. Although we had no mechanical issues on the road, the car did not like to be driven to within an inch of its capability. My own notes read, verbatim: “This thing grabs you by the collar and screams in your face, ‘I’m sporty, mother******!’ It’s like trying to wheel a classic Mustang hard. You’ve gotta know what you’re doing.”

Harping on the handling aside, there are a few other aspects of the 2018 refresh to talk about. My favorite is the optional digital dash, which has a lot of cool graphics and a different skin for every drive mode. My only request would be a more intuitive user interface, as there are multiple buttons on the steering wheel and dash that control it and it takes a while to figure out how to access all the hidden menus. Similarly, I’d like to know if there’s some hidden volume control for the parking sensors. They’re painfully loud.

The standard seats are as deserving of praise as the digital dash. They’re plenty supportive for back road shenanigans and still quite comfortable for the daily commute. The optional leather isn’t the fanciest stuff on the market, but it’s very nice for a non-luxury vehicle.

As long as we’re talking fancy stuff, we ought to address the green elephant in the room. Our EcoBoost Premium tester priced out at $39,880, and a lot of you will be quick to point out you can have a V-8 for that money. That’s certainly true, and if your priorities are power and exhaust note, there’s no reason not to. Of course, if you want these heated and cooled seats, the navigation system, the digital dash, the dampers, etc. on your V-8, it’s going to cost you plenty more than $40,000. The GT Premium starts at 40 grand, after all. If you’re looking to balance performance and features, the EcoBoost isn’t a bad way to go.

The 2018 Ford Mustang EcoBoost, at least when equipped with the Performance package, is not the docile base car you might expect. It’s not even the bargain sports car it used to be. It’s an ornery foal waiting to be broken to the saddle, and you have to respect that. It used to be that people looked down on base-engine Mustangs, but anyone who dismisses the 2018 EcoBoost out of hand hasn’t driven one.

Ford Mustangs are tough to ignore. Thanks to a healthy rivalry with the Chevrolet Camaro and monthly sales that always number in the thousands—not the hundreds—the Mustang has survived through six generations. The muscle car’s appeal goes beyond the allure of an available eight-cylinder engine at a somewhat affordable price. It’s also the bold styling. And since the sixth generation made its debut for the 2015 model year, Motor Trend has thoroughly covered the Mustang with reviews and comparison tests. Check out some of them below, along with Mustang photos you won’t find anywhere else.

After adopting some mid-year changes, the 2018 Kia Optima earned top marks in independent crash-testing last week. The Optima previously earned the Top Safety Pick Award but now qualifies for the more challenging Top Safety Pick+ after Kia made some changes to improve the mid-size sedan's performance in passenger-side impacts. The Top Safety Pick+...

Last July, I drove to San Diego in our long-term 2017 Hyundai Tucson to attend the launch of the 2018 Sonata and Elantra GT. The latter shares the same 1.6-liter turbo-four and seven-speed dual-clutch automatic with our Tucson in Sport guise but makes 26 hp more. In that application, the transmission is smooth, responsive, and snappy even in manual mode, doing exactly what you want. However, in the Tucson, it’s like a different unit, slow to respond and laggy. Why such a drastic change between the two cars? It’s all in the tuning.

Whereas the Elantra GT Sport has been calibrated for enthusiastic driving, the Tucson is efficiency-minded. On the highway, the powertrain is unobtrusive, but once you hit congested areas, things start to get clunky. At low speeds, the gearbox hunts frequently, shudders, and shifts roughly. You grow to expect but perhaps not accept it after a while; it will remain annoying because we’ve driven eco-minded powertrains that are less noticeably clunky. It also doesn’t help that the Tucson’s throttle response is sluggish, making it feel even more unresponsive. The best solution is to not put your foot down suddenly, because the transmission will get confused and ease into the throttle when you’re in traffic to keep it from shuddering. Sport mode also alleviates things slightly and makes city driving slightly smoother.

As a result of its transmission tuning, the Tucson lags behind its rivals when it comes to on-road refinement. The Honda CR-V doesn’t jerk you around at low speeds, and the CVT operates nearly invisibly. The Mazda CX-5, on the other hand, is more agile and responsive. City driving is where the Tucson’s weaknesses appear, and it doesn’t help that despite the economy-minded transmission, it’s EPA-rated at 24/28 mpg city/highway with all-wheel drive and 25/30 mpg with front-wheel drive. That’s right in line with most of the class but behind the most efficient entries, the CR-V and the Nissan Rogue, both of which are rated 2 to 3 mpg higher, so there’s no efficiency gain with the eco-tuned transmission when matched against the competition.

Lexus has gained a reputation for polarizing design over the past several years. And whether you like or don’t like the look of other Lexus crossovers, you’ll likely feel the same way about the new 2019 Lexus UX. When it arrives in the U.S. this December, it will compete against the BMW X1 and Mercedes-Benz GLA. But does it have a more compelling design than these two rivals?

The 2019 Lexus UX features the much contended spindle grille that permeates throughout the automaker’s lineup. It takes on an interesting 3D appearance with a mesh pattern. The grille takes up most of the front fascia, although the headlights and side vents also try and grab your attention. Take a look at the BMW X1, and you’ll notice it bears a less controversial dual-kidney grille design that’s simple, unobtrusive, yet almost too expected. The lights inside the headlamp housings take on a rounded shape. On the GLA, the rounded headlamps are almost as tall as the grille, which itself features soft lines. Because it doesn’t have sharp edges, the GLA looks less imposing than its rivals from many angles.

From the side profiles, the three models look quite different. Comparatively, the UX features a lot of cladding around the wheel arches. It has a more bulbous rear than that on the X1, which is flatter. The GLA has pleasant character lines running across its body and looks particularly diminutive from this angle. It’s the shortest of the bunch, measuring 173.9 inches long compared to the BMW’s 175.4 inches. Lexus says the UX that debuted in Geneva measures in at 177 inches in length.

Strong fender flares characterize the back end of the UX. Its full-width taillights project a “nighttime signature” using 120 LEDs and tapers toward the center, Lexus says. Below the light strip, character lines form a trapezoid. This angle of the UX is also a bit polarizing since the rear protrudes so much, and is arguably overly sculpted. Meanwhile, the BMW features a much more conventional rear end that is more upright. For the GLA, the taillights are so big that they dominate the rear end. A silver trim piece joins the two lights together in the very compact rear.

Each model features a luxurious cabin. On the UX, Lexus made it so the upper part of the instrument panel appears to extend out beyond the windshield. The large, low screen sits above the dashboard, and there is an old-school analog clock on this unit. Below the big screen, there are neat rows of buttons and a touchpad. The BMW features perhaps the oldest-looking screen of the bunch, and probably the starkest interior of the group as well. On the GLA, you’ll notice playful circular air vents and a stand-alone, square infotainment system.

Which crossover takes the cake: the 2019 Lexus UX, BMW X1, or Mercedes-Benz GLA? Let us know on Facebook.

The name “Tesla” may be synonymous with electric cars, but since the end of 2010, Nissan’s been quietly selling the fully electric Leaf hatchback. It was even popular enough to earn a second generation. But from the sound of it, Nissan thinks sales of its next electric car will blow Leaf sales out of the water. That’s because it’s reportedly planning to turn the Leaf into an SUV.

According to Autocar, Nissan’s developing an electric SUV that looks a lot like the IMx concept we saw last year. Despite being larger and offering more ground clearance, Autocar believes this electric crossover will be built on the Leaf’s platform. And when it finally goes into production, Nissan expects the electric crossover to be extremely popular.

“Of course, we have the new Leaf, but I think the [production version of the] IMx concept will become a breakthrough model.” Mamoru Aoki, Nissan’s head of European design, told Autocar. “The IMx is not just a concept car. In a few years, it will appear.”

According to Aoki, removing the engine will make the production IMx much more spacious than its gas-powered competition. “The interior is notably bigger than with a conventional vehicle and there’s much more usable space, thanks to the totally flat floor allowed by the battery pack,” said Aoki. “The dashboard is also pushed right back because the HVAC unit is under the bonnet.”

So far, there’s no word on how much Nissan’s electric SUV will cost or what kind of range it will actually offer. But Hyundai’s Kona Electric may soon face some serious competition.

Now we’re starting to understand why Volkswagen didn’t bring the T-Roc to the U.S. market. The automaker apparently has a different small SUV in mind for us, one that is currently under development and will come from Mexico.

Although we don’t have an official name yet, VW calls the model “Volks-SUV,” or People’s SUV. “We call it internally Volks-SUV – the production car won’t have that name – because it turned from a regional project into a global project,” said VW brand sales boss Juergen Stackmann, reports Automotive News.

The model, to be sold globally, is slightly more compact than the Tiguan. It will sit on the MQB architecture for cars with front transverse engines. VW just approved the design last week, so the process is already pretty far along.

Volkswagen will initially build the model through a joint venture in China, and sales for this market will begin in August. Production will expand into Mexico, Russia, and Argentina starting from 2020. The automaker didn’t say when we can expect to see it in the U.S., but VW brand CEO Herbert Diess revealed Mexico will supply the crossover for the U.S.

Small crossovers are hot in the U.S. right now, and VW clearly needs a competitor in this space. So why didn’t the T-Roc make the cut, you ask? VW says its smaller size and lower roof make it more compatible with Europe. Meanwhile, the automaker will sell the “Volks-SUV” in various different markets, but there are no plans to introduce it in Europe.

According to Diess, VW wants to sell 400,000 copies of the new crossover globally each year. If it sells well, the model can help fund VW’s extensive electric vehicle lineup planned for the future.

Our spy photographer caught this Focus sedan prototype on the road in Europe, and while they’re technically spy shots, it’s clear Ford wanted this car to be seen. Instead of wearing traditional camouflage, the car is covered in a bright, colorful wrap with comics. Really, we shouldn’t even call it a prototype since it’s being used as more of a marketing vehicle.

From what we can see, the new Focus is curvier and looks a little more mature than the current car, while the headlights and taillights have a more upmarket feel. Of course, it also looks a lot like the Focus hatchback that was caught completely undisguised last month.

Ford has yet to confirm an exact date for the official reveal, but we do know the new Focus won’t be shown at the New York Auto Show. Last we heard, it will get an event of its own somewhere in Europe next month.

Resurrecting a nameplate we haven’t seen since 2005, Lincoln will preview a new Aviator SUV at the New York auto show later this month.

Lincoln last used the Aviator name on an SUV based on the Ford Explorer. Although short-lived, running from the 2003-2005 model years, the SUV provided Lincoln customers with a slightly smaller alternative to the Navigator. It featured a 4.6-liter V-8 engine delivering 302 hp, and fuel economy topped out at 11/17 mpg city/highway. We should see downsized, but still powerful, engines on the new Aviator, and expect a big improvement in fuel economy.

Judging from the past, we can expect the Aviator will slot between the Nautilus and Navigator in Lincoln’s current lineup of recently updated SUVs. The current Navigator, which we really like, has been on sale since late last year while the Nautilus will go on sale this spring as a replacement for the MKX crossover.

Lincoln is expected to offer an electrified version of the new vehicle. “The Aviator, which will make its world debut at the New York International Auto Show, is the first of two all-new utilities that Lincoln will bring to market in the next two years as it grows its utility portfolio and commits to electrification across its lineup globally,” the automaker said in a press release.

We don’t know much about the Aviator, but we have to say we like the name and Lincoln’s move away from vehicles starting with “MK.” We’ll learn more about the Lincoln Aviator when it debuts in New York on Wednesday, March 28. In the meantime, check out the teaser video below for a look at parts of the exterior design.

Every spring, Jeep builds a handful of wild concepts and heads to Moab, Utah, for the Easter Jeep Safari. Last year, we saw a Wrangler that had been modified to look like a ’60s gasser hot rod, a tastefully restored 1993 Grand Cherokee, and several others. Jeep hasn’t revealed which concepts it will bring to this year’s event, but the teasers it released today definitely have our attention.

The first image shows a JL Wrangler with a retro two-tone paint job. Look a little closer, and you’ll see a badge on the fender that says “Jeepster.” To us, it looks a little more like the Commando from the ’70s that had dropped the Jeepster name, but we’ll reserve judgment until the concept is revealed in full. Jeepsters are cool, and so is this concept’s retro look.

The Wrangler in this second teaser definitely looks more off-road-focused. It appears to have been lifted, given larger tires, and fitted with a bull bar and lights. Since it’s also got a hood scoop, there’s a chance Jeep swapped in a Hemi V-8. And while the image is far too blurry to be certain, it kind of looks like there’s a truck bed out back.

According to Jeep, we’ll get more details, as well as more images, next week before the 52nd annual Easter Jeep Safari kicks off on Saturday, March 24.

Attention lottery winners and blockchain bros: British luxury brand Aston Martin is engaging in a massive product offensive that will result in an all-new or seriously redesigned vehicle arriving pretty much every year through 2023.

The surge will include Aston Martin’s entry into the SUV market as well as two pure battery-electric vehicles under the Lagonda brand name. It also means a new mid-engine sports car.

In a far-reaching interview at the media introduction of the Vantage in Portugal (driving impressions of which are embargoed until April 10), Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer said that the brand is looking at portfolio expansion as a way to dramatically increase global sales and brand recognition past that of Ferrari.

The expansion into mid-engine sports cars could result in the brand’s traditional front-engine, rear-drive layout going away after the current generation, Palmer said.

Although Aston Martins will retain their classic dimensions—yes, even in SUV form—“we unleashed the designers on Lagonda,” Palmer said.

Aston Martin Lagonda Vision Concept

Make no mistake—Lagonda will be “fully electrified,” as in having only battery-electric propulsion—not hybrids—with development done in-house. Palmer adding that Aston Martin has “help wanted” positions for 400 Lagonda battery propulsion engineers.

“It will not be a compromised platform,” Palmer said. “It will have no tailpipe. We want to do our own cells. We want to master the battery controller.”

By not having the restriction of a powertrain at the front axle, the designers have more freedom to create unique new vehicle designs—as seen with the Lagonda Vision concept shown at the Geneva Motor Show.

Aston’s product roll-out

2018 Vantage, DB11 Volante redesigns

2018 Vanquish redesign, Vantage roadster

2019 DBX SUV intro

2021 Mid-engine sports car into

2022 Lagonda sedan intro

2023 Lagonda SUV intro

Marek Reichman, Aston Martin’s chief designer, said that “without the lump of a V-8 or V-12, we can design from the inside out.”

The new lineup also means the withdrawal of the Rapide sedan from the lineup. The Rapide is at the end of its cycle but will fulfill a crucial duty in being transformed into a battery-electric fleet of 155 vehicles to test consumer wants and needs for the upcoming Lagondas.

That said, Aston Martin will still be in the business of building V-12 flagship sports cars, although future V-12s might be hybrid-powered (but not plug-in hybrids, which Palmer sees as inefficient).

In addition to the series production vehicles, Aston Martin will also create two “limited series” vehicles a year, such as the Valkyrie hypercar or design variations with outside coachbuilders like Zagato, Palmer said.

The track-only Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR Pro that debuted in Geneva

Aston Martin sold 5,100 vehicles in 2017, a 58 percent increase, but Palmer is not satisfied with that volume level. With the home plant in Gaydon, England, soon to be maxed out for capacity building sports cars, Aston Martin is building a new 7,000-unit plant in Wales to account for 4,000 DBXs and 3,000 Lagondas annually. Palmer expects volumes to reach 14,000 units in 2023—which would be nearly double that of Ferrari’s 8,398 sold in 2017.

Although the automaker is in the midst of its heaviest R&D spend in its history, it posted a £207 million EBITDA profit in 2017 on £1.2 billion in revenue. The only previous annual profit in Aston Martin’s 105-year history was in the global boom year of 2007—and that comes with an asterisk as a chunk of Aston’s costs were dispersed throughout then-owner Ford Motor Co.’s larger structure. The automaker also has refinanced its debt, shaving its borrowing rate from 10 percent to 6 percent senior securitized debt, Palmer said.

“The chapter of loss making is done,” Palmer said. “The money is spent. Now we will reap it in.”

After months of waiting, Ford has finally given us a sneak peek at the new Mustang Shelby GT500 in this teaser photo. One thing is for sure: This won’t look like a standard Mustang.

Arriving in 2019, the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 receives more visual differentiation than any other car in the automaker’s pony car stable. The large, gaping grille completely dominates the front fascia. Compared to previous Shelby GT Mustangs, the Cobra logo is more prominent. Curiously, the headlights appear to take after the pre-refresh Mustang rather than the face-lifted 2018 model.

Ford has confirmed the new Mustang GT500 will be its most powerful production car to date. A teaser video released by Ford at the Detroit auto show announced the GT500’s return and revealed the car will pack more than 700 hp. If the leaked images we’ve seen are any indication, that power should come from a supercharged engine. The previous GT500, which concluded its run after the 2014 model year, made “just” 662 hp from a 5.2-liter supercharged V-8 engine. The coupe version managed to hit 60 mph in 3.5 seconds in Motor Trend tests, and we can only imagine the new version will be even quicker.

Right now, Ford only offers the GT350 and GT350R, which are impressive in their own right. We tested the GT350R, which makes 526 hp and 429 lb-ft of torque from a naturally aspirated 5.2-liter flat-plane-crank V-8, hitting 60 mph in 4 seconds. The GT350, GT350R, and past GT500 have all come with manual transmissions, so it’s likely the new GT500 will follow suit.